Meanwhile, outside the palace at the Areopagus, Tania and Selardi stood facing one another, both goddesses in combat stance.

  “Did you know that fire is stronger than ice?” Tania asked with a confident expression.

  “Unfortunately for you, every atom comes to a halt before the power of total freezing,” Selardi replied.

  “That’s the theory, isn’t it? Then let’s see if you can stop my atoms!” Tania shouted as she raised her bat-like wings of fire and hurled herself toward Selardi at full speed, yelling, “Rahafu Sharshi (Flying creature)!”

  The sound was like a roaring engine as she launched herself forward.

  But before the goddess could do anything, she was frozen midair. Selardi had raised her right hand and calmly said, “Sarrts’akalman alik’ (Freezing Wave).”

  She lowered her hand and walked toward Tania’s frozen form.

  “There is no energy capable of overcoming total freezing. You will remain solidified like this for all eternity,” Selardi said.

  She then took a rose, froze it instantly, and placed it beside the ice sculpture, a tear sliding down her cheek.

  “So young, so beautiful, so full of energy. Why do the most beautiful flowers always wither?” she murmured.

  At that moment, the ice sculpture began to bubble and turn red. The ice started to sweat and rapidly vaporize as Selardi turned her gaze toward the goddess Tannit, who—through tremendous effort—was heating the ice from within, trying to destroy it.

  “So this girl can heat my total freezing. Now I understand why she is considered a danger in Lel,” Selardi said, her expression still calm and unchanging.

  Tania shattered the ice layer with her fire and continued her charge like a blazing meteor toward the Armenian goddess.

  Selardi leapt backward to avoid the attack, causing Tania to crash into the ground in a violent explosion.

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  Using her hands, Tania formed fireballs and hurled them at Selardi, but the Armenian goddess merely waved her hand. The fireballs froze instantly and fell to the ground.

  Selardi watched Tania without any expression, taking another rose and smelling it as it froze.

  Grinding her teeth in frustration, Tania spread her wings again and launched herself forward at full speed. Selardi took the frozen rose and threw it at her, embedding it in Tania’s shoulder.

  Upon impact, the rose exploded into the shape of an icy star, freezing the goddess inside it.

  Selardi created several frozen stalagmites in the sky, aimed directly at the Punic goddess. Just as Tania broke free from the ice, the spikes shot toward her and pierced her body before she could evade them. Immediately after, Selardi froze Tania again, this time inside an ice shell shaped like a dragon.

  “It’s impossible for you to defeat me, Tannit. Surrender already,” Selardi said.

  The Armenian goddess stood watching as Tania once again struggled to break the icy structure trapping her. A faint smile appeared on Selardi’s face.

  Using sheer strength, Tania shattered the ice dragon encasing her, but at that moment she felt dizzy and collapsed face-first onto the ground. Her skin began to turn white, as did her eyebrows and hair.

  She lost her manticore transformation and could no longer move.

  “What’s happening to me?” Tania asked desperately.

  Selardi knelt before her and gently stroked her head while Tania remained immobilized.

  “You were struck by the freezing venom of my rose: Byureghya vardi t’uyny (Poison of the crystal rose), which contains a powerful toxin from a tannin that once lived on Mount Ararat. Your blood is now poisoned, and unless you can ignite your own heart, you will die frozen—until your blood itself becomes ice,” Selardi said as she continued to caress her.

  The Punic goddess tried once more to ignite her hand and, with all her strength, grabbed Selardi’s ankle. But the moment she touched the goddess’s body, the fire froze, and Tania turned into an ice statue.

  Selardi pulled free from Tania’s now-frozen grasp and, with a motion of her hand, sealed the statue inside a chest made of ice.

  “I will take you like this before Lel. This way, your body will suffer no damage and you will not die, Tannit,” the goddess said.

  Selardi stood up, but as she took her first step, she noticed that the ankle Tania had grabbed was burned, the skin torn away. She froze in shock that a mere grip from the Punic goddess had inflicted such damage.

  “Why? Why won’t my ichor heal this?” Selardi wondered.

  She attempted to freeze her ankle to heal the burn, but the ice melted. To her horror, the wound began to spread up her leg, filling the Armenian goddess with fear.

  “This feels like poison… as if she poisoned me with her ability,” Selardi thought.

  In desperation, she tore off her own leg and destroyed it to prevent the poison from spreading. When her ichor failed to regenerate it, she fashioned a leg of ice so she could continue walking.

  “That was a very dangerous ability,” she thought.

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